No Sugar Jack Davis
Sheradyn – Drama Essay ~ No sugar (Jack Davis)
The play No Sugar by Jack Davis has various themes and issues covered in it. My understanding of society helps with the meaning of this text, through multiple aspects. These aspects are shown in the text through various themes/issues. These themes portray society and help with my understanding of No Sugar. The themes/issues are as follows; colonialism, economic depression and the patriarchy society. All these topics were a big part of Davis time, and when he wrote the play. This is the reason that we can see these issues portrayed through his play. Racism is a big part of his play and in the era when the play was written as well, and it’s shown not as a separate issue but is portrayed through all of these issues.
One main issue in Davis time was colonialism. What is colonialism? Colonialism is ‘the control or governing influence of a nation over a dependent country, territory, or people.’ So in this case, the British Empire control over Australia and its people, originally the aboriginals. Australia was a part of the British Empire and therefore had a colonial mindset. Making a ‘white Australia’ was what the British were trying to achieve here. They were trying to “improve’ the place and people by making them as much like Britain as possible, as everything British was considered superior and better. Basically they were trying to make the aboriginals blend and eventually disappear. This comes out in Davis’ play in a few areas. The first area being where “Billy Kimberly and Bluey, dressed in new but absurdly ill-fitting uniforms…” the dramatic convention of costume is used here to get Davis point across. The Abdominals didn’t fit it. But the whites were trying to get them too; by making them wear this uniform they are trying to make them a part of the white society. Also where Neville says “…to live as other Australians live, and to live along side other Australians; to learn to enjoy the privileges and to shoulder
The play No Sugar by Jack Davis has various themes and issues covered in it. My understanding of society helps with the meaning of this text, through multiple aspects. These aspects are shown in the text through various themes/issues. These themes portray society and help with my understanding of No Sugar. The themes/issues are as follows; colonialism, economic depression and the patriarchy society. All these topics were a big part of Davis time, and when he wrote the play. This is the reason that we can see these issues portrayed through his play. Racism is a big part of his play and in the era when the play was written as well, and it’s shown not as a separate issue but is portrayed through all of these issues.
One main issue in Davis time was colonialism. What is colonialism? Colonialism is ‘the control or governing influence of a nation over a dependent country, territory, or people.’ So in this case, the British Empire control over Australia and its people, originally the aboriginals. Australia was a part of the British Empire and therefore had a colonial mindset. Making a ‘white Australia’ was what the British were trying to achieve here. They were trying to “improve’ the place and people by making them as much like Britain as possible, as everything British was considered superior and better. Basically they were trying to make the aboriginals blend and eventually disappear. This comes out in Davis’ play in a few areas. The first area being where “Billy Kimberly and Bluey, dressed in new but absurdly ill-fitting uniforms…” the dramatic convention of costume is used here to get Davis point across. The Abdominals didn’t fit it. But the whites were trying to get them too; by making them wear this uniform they are trying to make them a part of the white society. Also where Neville says “…to live as other Australians live, and to live along side other Australians; to learn to enjoy the privileges and to shoulder